Long Island Larder: Get Squashed!

Never have I seen so many fields of pumpkins as this year. Every farmer east of the Shinnecock must have planted at least an acre. And where a lone jack-o'-lantern used to preside on the average doorstep, this year there were armies of pumpkins artfully arranged on lawns, fences, on pediments, in commercial window displays, nearly everywhere except as car hood ornaments. I can't imagine how Jerry Della Femina got into so much trouble over pumpkin displays (the displays I'd like to see prosecuted are the political signs littering the roads).

But given the pumpkin inundation - fields are still full of them, free for the asking I should imagine - and Halloween a memory, what do we do with all those pumpkins? Although they are about as native American as you can get, our cookery has surprisingly few uses for them. In fact, winter squashes in general do not fare well in contemporary cookbooks.

However, in light of their enormous nutritional benefits as well as their goodness, cheapness and availability, I've gone hunting for some interesting ways - or at least alternatives to pumpkin pie and jack-o'-lanterns - to make use of them.

Hubbards are a bit sweet for soup, but almost any of them will be good in this spicy concoction. Let's face it: squashes aren't overwhelming in the flavor department and need a bit of help.

Butternuts and pumpkins are excellent and easier to peel than the rougher skinned types of their brethren. Butternuts are the easiest to peel, but another way of getting at these tough squashes like pumpkin and Hubbards if you don't have a machete or a heavy, really good serrated knife, is to cook them a bit first in a microwave until they soften up enough to cut them open so that you can remove the seeds and pith and, if the flesh is cooked enough, scoop it out with a big kitchen spoon.

First Choice

Another technique is to cut the pumpkin into large chunks and peel those with a vegetable peeler - my first choice.

Makes about two quarts.

21/2 lbs. peeled pumpkin chunks

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

4 cloves garlic, minced or sliced

1 very large onion, coarsely chopped

2 stalks celery, peeled and cut in 2-inch lengths

1 tsp. ground cardomom

1 tsp. ground coriander

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. coarse salt

1/8 tsp. cayenne or red pepper flakes

Pinch of grated nutmeg (optional)

1 quart degreased chicken broth

1 cup Half-and-Half

1 Tbsp. fresh coriander leaves, minced

Garnish: sour cream, light or regular

Hack the pumpkin open and scrape away all the pith and seeds - just like a jack-o'-lantern. Cut it into manageable chunks and peel them, then cut the pieces into two or three-inch chunks and set aside.

Puree The Soup

Heat the oil in a large deep soup pot and add the vegetables and spices. Stir and cook over low heat until the onions look transparent.

Add the pumpkin and broth, bring to the simmer, cover and cook until the pumpkin is very tender (this takes about four minutes in a pressure cooker - the method I always use), which depends on the age of the pumpkin, but should take about 20 minutes.

Puree the soup in a blender or processor and stir in the Half-and- Half. Reheat briefly and serve in warmed bowls with swirls (from a squeeze bottle) of sour cream and sprinklings of fresh coriander.

Plain heavy cream can substitute for the sour cream but the fresh coriander, if unavailable, can be replaced with fresh minced parsley, although the soup will not be nearly as interesting.

Black Bean Soup In A Pumpkin

I guess you could call this a post-Halloween soup or plan it for next All Hallows Eve. It's fun to serve and not nearly as forbidding as the lengthy directions would lead one to believe.

Look around for a rather tall pumpkin big enough to hold two quarts of liquid when hollowed out - it will probably weigh about seven or eight pounds. Wash it well and cut off a lid about three inches from the top leaving the stem on. Scoop out the seeds and pith very thoroughly.

Carve tiny wedges from around the rim in a rickrack pattern. You needn't bother with the lid unless time weighs heavy on your hands. The squash will be steamed to use as a tureen for the soup and will keep it piping hot though the pumpkin itself won't be served.

Find a pot it will fit into with a couple of inches to spare around the sides of the pumpkin and a shallow rack to set it on. Place a long dish towel or length of cheesecloth under it and bring the cloth up over the top to be used to lift it from the pot.

Place the pumpkin in the pot with a couple of inches of hot water and steam it, covered, until it is heated through but still very firm. This should be done about an hour before you wish to serve the soup. Meanwhile: the soup.

Black Bean Soup

Soaking the beans makes them cook more quickly, but if you forget, simply bring them to a boil, simmer for one minute, cover loosely, and let them soak for at least one hour.

If you use a pressure cooker, as I do, follow the instructions for timing that came with it as pressure cookers vary in the time required. The new second generation cookers will have the pre-soaked beans tender in about five minutes - if unsoaked, in about 20 minutes. Wash and pick over the beans as usual however you plan to cook them.

2 dried ancho chillies, soaked in hot (not boiling) water 30 minutes.

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 Tbsp. cumin

Pinch of cayenne

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 medium onions, chopped

1 carrot, peeled and cut in chunks

2 quarts water or de-greased chicken broth

1 cup dry red wine

1 bay leaf

Salt to taste.

Tear the anchos apart and discard the stem and seeds. Puree the chillies with their soaking water, which should be strained, in a blender or a small processor. Heat the oil in a deep soup pot and add the cumin and cayenne, stirring it to toast slightly over low heat.

Add the garlic and onion and sweat them over medium-low heat, stirring often, then add the anchos. Add the carrot water, wine, bay leaf and soaked beans. Do not add salt. Simmer over low heat with loose cover until the beans are beginning to disintegrate. Then add salt to taste. Puree the soup, leaving some beans whole, and reheat. Adjust seasoning to your taste.

I usually add a splash of dry sherry or some mojo, a Cuban table sauce of sour orange juice flavored with garlic and hot chillies that I make myself. It is widely sold in South Florida, but the commercially made stuff isn't very good. Use your own favorite table sauce to flavor the soup to your taste.

Reheat the soup to boiling hot, stirring constantly as it tends to stick. Put the pumpkin into a deep bowl and slide the cheesecloth from under it. Pour the hot soup into the pumpkin and serve with warm tortillas or hot corn bread and butter.

Sweet Dumpling Squash

This lovely little squash, usually weighing about a pound, was developed in Japan and makes a very appealing presentation as it doesn't lose its attractive ivy green mottled stripes on a cream colored background. Unlike some of those deceitfully beautiful motley-colored dried beans that fade to a solid dull color after cooking. Though not common, I've seen them at our local farmstand this fall. (Most of these new squashes, beloved by the Japanese, were first grown in California expressly for export to Japan.)

Sharp Spoon

Store them at cool room temperature and use them within two weeks. They are quite hard and will need a heavy, sharp knife to cut in half vertically. Or if you have smallish ones, just cut off a few inches of the top.

In any case, scoop out the seeds and pith with a melon baller or sharp kitchen spoon. The ones that are about four inches in diameter will serve two people.

Sprinkle the inside with a little salt, pepper, and mace or nutmeg. For a single squash, place it, cut side up, in a glass bowl with about one-half inch of water. Cover with plastic wrap, leaving a tiny edge open for escaping steam. Microwave for four minutes on high. Serve with a lump of butter in the cavity and let each person mash it up with his fork, as you would a baked potato.

Use Foil

For a crowd - say the Thanksgiving mob - you might want to arrange a number of halves, with a little cream in the cavities, in a large shallow baking dish with half an inch of water under them. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes or until very tender when pierced with a skewer.

They should be meltingly tender - don't make the mistake of many of the younger restaurant chefs around here who think all vegetables should be "hot-raw" and even in the case of dried beans, "crunchy" - an awful, not to say indigestible notion.

Kabocha Or Buttercup Squash

Several different strains of the Japanese kabochas are around on local stands and are called by various names. Whatever the seed catalogue writer dreamed up probably. The buttercup squash, a large turban-shaped squash of about four to five pounds, has a dull, dark green, rough textured skin and was developed in North Dakota - it keeps well at cool room temperature for as long as four weeks.

Kabochas sometimes look the same but have five or six variations. Most have a creamy pale pink interior when cut and a soft, custardy yellow flesh when cooked - usually by steaming or baking. Cutting, aye, that's the rub! You need a really heavy, sharp knife and a rubber mallet to do the job effectively.

Place the knife just off-center and bang on it with the rubber mallet until you get the squash split. These squashes are delicious, low-calorie, and very easy to cook. I have a buttercup awaiting its fate while I think of something to do with it for Thanksgiving. More on that later.

Nutritionally, according to my favorite source, "Uncommon Fruits and Vegetables" by Elizabeth Schneider, all winter squashes have tons of vitamin A, "substantial" vitamin C content, and some iron and potassium. They deserve to be more widely used as food, not just decorations.